Russian officials on Friday sought to limit expectations after media reports said President Vladimir Putin’s special investment envoy had traveled to the United States and held discussions with members of the U.S. administration on a possible peace deal and economic cooperation.
Asked about the matter, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "Kirill Dmitriev is not negotiating a settlement in Ukraine, and this is not a resumption of the negotiations," adding that Dmitriev "heads the group on economic issues, and he continues to work within this group."
The reporting that Dmitriev was in the United States said he had meetings with members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration concerning both a potential peace agreement and U.S.-Russia economic ties. The Kremlin response emphasized that such contacts do not equate to a reactivation of formal negotiations over a settlement in Ukraine.
Separately, President Putin announced a temporary ceasefire - lasting 32 hours across a two-day period - to coincide with Orthodox Easter Sunday. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said Kyiv would observe the measure.
Peskov characterized the pause in hostilities as humanitarian in nature and reiterated Moscow’s stated preference for a broader, more durable settlement rather than short-term cessations of fighting. "As we have repeatedly said, and as President Putin has said, we do not want a ceasefire, we want peace, a lasting, sustainable peace," Peskov said.
He also repeated Moscow’s public position that any lasting peace depends on decisions by Kyiv, saying: "And this peace can come today if President Zelenskiy makes the appropriate decision, takes responsibility and makes the appropriate decision," echoing the Kremlin line that the ball is in Ukraine’s court.
Peskov noted that formal peace talks remain paused and linked that pause to developments in the Middle East, saying that the talks are not currently active. His comments reinforced the distinction the Kremlin drew between economic discussions conducted by its investment envoy and any formal diplomatic negotiation over a settlement in Ukraine.
While the Kremlin framed Dmitriev’s U.S. trip as economic in scope and described the ceasefire as humanitarian and time-limited, senior officials stopped short of describing the contacts in Washington as the resumption of talks on a comprehensive political settlement.
The statements underline ongoing uncertainty about whether and when formal negotiations on Ukraine might restart, even as temporary measures around religious holidays are observed by both sides.